A state of the art device for positioning a patient in an arms-up or arms-over-head position for treatment, is presently made and sold by Smithers Medical Products, Inc., Tallmadge, Ohio, U.S.A. under the trademark Tee-Grip.RTM.. This device is further identified as "Stock No. TG-1" ("Tee-Grip.RTM. is a registered trademark of Smithers Medical Products, Inc., Tallmadge, Ohio, U.S.A.). This device is a repositioning device which comprises a horizontal rectangular base, a head positioning member mounted on the base near one end, and a handlebar mounted on the base near the other end. The handlebar comprises a vertically upwardly extending stem which is secured to the base and a pair of hand grips which are attached to the stem near an upper end thereof and which extend laterally horizontally from the stem. The entire device, except for mounting screws (to affix the handlebar and the head positioning member to the base) is made of a hard, rigid acrylic plastic.
The device is placed for use on a horizontal supporting surface (e.g., a patient treatment table) so that the base is horizontal. A patient places his or her head on the head holder or head positioning member, raises the arms above the head and grasps the hand grips.
The device is useful generally for any patient treatment requiting an arms-over-head position. This device is especially useful for lateral lung treatments. It can also be used to improve the accuracy of set-ups for esophagus, breast tangents, and any type of chest or abdominal treatment in which the arms must be over the patient's head. This device allows a patient to raise his or her arms above the head in an accurate and consistent manner.
The prior art device does not comfortably fit patients of all sizes. The distance from the head positioning member to the handlebar grips is fixed. A patient of about average height may grasp the hand grips with arms outstretched and straight. However, a patient of significantly shorter than average stature may have to stretch in order to reach the hand grips and may even be unable to reach the grips when the head is properly positioned on the positioning member. The patient of significantly taller than average stature will have arms bent at the elbow when he or she grasps the hand grips with the arms while the head is properly positioned on positioning member. There is some discomfort and perhaps also some loss of precision in positioning the patient when the patient is either significantly taller or significantly shorter than average.
In addition to adjustability for different arm lengths, it has also been determined desirable to have the ability to accommodate for variations in neck length, head size, and to permit adjustability of the head and neck positions relative to each other. The prior art devices do not permit such variation.